


Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Zombies

by AgentOfShip



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fairy Tale Elements, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Romance, no actual zombie in this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 03:24:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16467725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentOfShip/pseuds/AgentOfShip
Summary: It's a terribly cold and stormy night and Jemma is tired. She'd been running away from them for so long and she's about to give up when she notices a darkened house. Is there someone inside? Is it safe to take refuge there?An Halloween University FitzSimmons AU





	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Zombies

**Author's Note:**

> Yay I managed to finish my Halloween story and art on time for Halloween! It's got a bit of everything: mystery, Halloween vibes and lots and lots of fluff! Hope you'll enjoy as much as I enjoyed writing it :)  
> A huge thank you to LibbyWeasley for being a fantastic beta on this story, for taking the time to correct my terrible punctuation and spelling (sorry you had to write comma and lower case so many times :() and for making such useful comments all through the story! It is so much better thanks to her :)

Autumn had only just settled over the land and it felt like winter might already be on the way. The days were getting shorter and much colder. And on a night like this one, with such heavy rain and dark storm clouds obscuring the moon, there shouldn't have been a soul outside. Through the windows, Jemma could hear laughter and see a warm orange glow beckoning her inside, but she kept running anyway. She knew they wouldn't be deterred by the presence of other people, and she couldn't bear to have it on her conscience if she condemned other poor souls to her fate.

The rain made her slip and almost fall several times and the trees, having long lost their leaves, had now turned to menacing hands making her escape an even more impossible endeavour. She knew how silly it sounded, even to herself, and especially in her situation, but she didn't want to rip her dress, and holding it close to her hindered her progress even more. Her mother had been so proud and happy when she'd given it to her, having spent so much time working on it, that it would have broken Jemma's heart to tear the gauzy and fragile yellow fabric she'd used for the skirt.

So Jemma kept running. She kept running until her legs were about to give out and her lungs felt like they had caught fire. Stopping at the edge of the tree line, she decided to take the risk. She was all alone with nothing to defend herself and there were so many of them. She tried to catch her breath at least because she wouldn't escape if she fainted anyway. If only she had taken the time to eat something earlier today, she might feel stronger.

It was only when her eyes started to get used to the darkness around that she saw what might be her salvation. It was quite a big house with an impressive red wooden door and two small towers at the corners. During the day, she would have noticed it immediately of course, but it stood there surrounded by trees and not a single light showing through the windows. If the door wasn't locked and she was quick enough to get in, maybe they wouldn't notice it either or at least, such a big and elegant house would have plenty of rooms or cupboards to hide in.

She might not meet her gruesome fate tonight after all, she thought. Slowly turning around, she realized it was much too dark to see if anyone was close anyway so she tried to listen over the sound of her pounding heart. Only hearing the strangely reassuring sounds of an ordinary autumn night, the wind and rain, she was confident that she at least managed to put a few hundred meters between her and them, thus giving her enough time to make it to the house, hoping against hope that she would be able to get in. She ran up the small flight of stairs and just as she was about to knock, an especially strong gust of wind pushed her forward and blew the door open. She wondered for just a second if it wasn't a little strange. Could it be a trap maybe? But she reasoned that it couldn't be any worse than what was waiting outside and quickly got in, closing the door behind her as silently as she could.

The big entrance hall was beautiful, at least from what she could see with the only light coming from the full moon filtering through the clouds and the high stained glass windows. There were several big paintings of very grim looking men and a very large and impressive oak staircase leading to the first floor. With the few coats and umbrellas she could see on the rack next to the door, Jemma could only suppose that at least some people lived in this house. But why wasn't any light on? What was the probability of no one being at home in such a big place? And that no one thought to leave at least a light just outside the door or up the stairs to not make it so glum when they would come back home.

Well. She certainly couldn't go back out now so she might as well try and find a place where she could rest a bit. An armchair and a big heavy blanket would be lovely. A fireplace would be heaven. The high windows made the stairway and the upstairs corridor a little less dark so she decided to start there. She climbed up quickly, her soft slippers thankfully not making any noise on the carpeted stairs, and decided to go left since the small window at the end of the corridor offered at least a modicum of moonlight to cut through the dense darkness. For several meters, Jemma only encountered closed doors on both sides. She could only hear the sound of the rain pounding outside and the wind filtering through windows and doors, making the light fabric of her dress flutter and shivers run down her spine. If the small brass signs with a different name on each door, all men, were any indication, these rooms were most likely all bedrooms and she didn't want to intrude any more than she already had. Surely, she could find a nice little office or a library where she could rest without bothering anyone. And that was when she saw it, just as she was about to turn back to go the other way. It was so feeble that she could easily have missed it: a small orange glow, probably from a candle, coming from the last bedroom on the right. The door was slightly ajar and that what was made it possible for her to see it.

So maybe there was someone in this house after all. Taking a deep breath to gather her courage, Jemma took the last few steps remaining, plastered what she hoped was a reassuring and non-threatening smile on her face, and knocked on the door.

"Hello?" she asked tentatively.

No reply, just the door opening a little wider, letting her take a small peek inside. She couldn't see much except for the three candles displayed on what looked like a small bedside table. There was also a massive oak bed that stood so tall her feet wouldn't even touch the floor if she were to sit on it, and another one of those grim paintings of a mustachioed man just above it. The rest was hidden in darkness and there wasn't a human being in sight. If a human being lived here at all, that bed looking like it would be much better fitted to a giant.

"Is there someone in here?" she tried. Again with no success. So she pushed the door further open, enough to walk in. "I'm really sorry to disturb but I was trying to escape the-the weather, it's positively frightful!" she added, just in case someone was in there but chose not to respond for some reason. And if that someone was one of them, she couldn't let him know. And surely he would have no way of knowing who she was.

But as her eyes adjusted to the light of the candles, she realized that she was worried over nothing. The room, which looked really comfortable and at least three times bigger than her own very modest one, was free from any human presence. Aside from being obviously crafted to accommodate an ogre, that bed looked terribly comfortable. Now that her heart was finally settling down and that she didn't feel in immediate danger anymore, Jemma was finally realizing how cold and exhausted she was from having run in the rain for so long. Surely, she couldn't be so bold as to go to sleep in someone's else bed and risk drenching the sheets with her dress. Of course taking her dress off was even less of a possibility so that small armchair would have to do for now, although … She could almost hear the bed calling her name. And if she didn't sleep, just rested, over the bedspread, it wouldn't be quite so bad. She could even offer to wash it herself. And that lovely tartan blanket neatly folded at the end of the bed looked like it had been made for her. The yellow and red in it even matched her dress. She hesitated for another moment but her eyelids were so heavy with sleep that she just didn't have the strength to resist. Taking off her shoes, she climbed on the bed, feeling like a tiny little girl, and grabbed the blanket before lying on her side. She spread the blanket on her as best as she could and lifted her knees up. After a few minutes, a lovely warmth started to spread through her whole body and she sighed in contentment. She wouldn't stay long, just enough to rest a bit, for her clothes to dry and, hopefully, for her hunters to find themselves another prey.

-0-0-0-

Jemma woke up to the feeling of something heavy and wet falling on top of her and a high pitched shriek. Her eyes shooting open, she quickly sat up and looked around. With everything still dark around but for the candles on the bedside table, it took her a moment to remember where she was. As her eyes adjusted, she finally saw the silhouette standing only a few meters away, most likely the owner of the room, and gasped in surprise despite herself. From where she was, he didn't look really big, definitely not a giant or an ogre anyway, and not very menacing either. Especially if she took into account that the sound that woke her up came from him. The faint candle light didn't reveal much of his face but as it hit his fair curly hair, it created some sort of halo around his head which she decided to take as a good sign.

"Oh hello," she said tentatively as she clumsily tried to free herself from the blanket, the soft wooly fabric clinging to her gauzy dress.

"Hello?!!" He sounded young and really quite confused.

"I realize it must be strange to find someone you don't know in what I can only guess is your bed but please sir, let me explain. The others, the older ones with their horribly deformed faces, they were hunting me and the wind and rain were really awful. I was desperate to find shelter when I found your house and, of course, I would normally never enter a house uninvited, but the door was open and there seemed to be no one in here and it was all so dark except for this room. And I know I shouldn't have presumed that it was alright for me to rest on your bed but I was just so cold and tired that I-"

"What the hell?" he cut her off. Oh and he was apparently Scottish as well. That was probably a good thing too, he should feel obligated to help his fellow -well almost fellow- countrywoman but his tone didn't really sound too encouraging. Which she supposed was only to be expected, she did invade his room uninvited after all.

"I'm really sorry sir, let me just find my shoes and I will leave you be. Again I didn't mean to-"

"Why are you talking like that?" he cut her off again. Rude. "Did you hit your head or something? Or is there a curse on your dress?" he added, chuckling at what he apparently thought was an amusing jest she didn't understand, before he sighed loudly. "Oh no, it's a prank isn't it? It's the others right? Fuck, I thought I got rid of those prats at least for tonight. Well," he sighed again. "You can tell them I fell for it for like a minute and-"

"What?" she cried out, outrage at his assumptions making her own voice more high pitched than usual. "Of course not. Like I said sir, I was escaping those monsters through the forest and I was about to give up when I saw your house. If I knew you'd react like this, surely I would have-"

"What forest? What the hell are you talking about? Honestly did you hit your head? Should I call a doctor?" he asked, the frown on his face going from annoyance and confusion to worry and she sighed as she flopped back down on the bed.

"No it's alright I'm fine I was trying to stay in character! Am I the only one in this bloody university who tries to commit to her costume? Honestly?"

"To this extent? Yeah I guess …" He replied, still looking at her with a deep frown as he remained at a safe distance, like she was some sort of wild animal that might go for his throat if he looked away. "So you really didn't hit your head or anything? And you don't actually think you're Snow White?"

"Of course I don't!" She huffed. "Honestly, this Halloween isn't meeting any of my expectations"

"Right … So hum … the whole falling asleep on my bed was all part of the "staying in character" thing? Cause I know I'm short but I can assure you I'm not a dwarf. I would be terrible in a mine anyway, I'm claustrophobic and I have no upper body strength whatsoever so-"

"Of course I don't think you're a dwarf." She cut him off with what she hoped was a warm smile (but most likely wasn't since he could probably only see her teeth in this semi-darkness) and came to stand closer to him. "See you're a good ten centimeters taller than I am!" She declared enthusiastically and he just gave her another wary look before taking a careful step backwards.

He certainly was grumpy enough to be one of the dwarves. But to be fair, she might not react much better if she found some dirty and wet stranger sleeping on the delicate handmade bedspread making her dorm room feel a little homier.

"So what is it?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. She wondered if she could really trust him with the truth, but from what little she could see, he looked to be even younger than she was so he was most likely a first year as well and certainly not a senior anyway.

"Well, it's like I said except they're not actual monsters but older students disguised as zombies who thought it'd be funny to invite all the first years to a Halloween party and then single them out to throw them into a pool dyed red to make it look like blood." She explained, her annoyance and anger from earlier returning with a vengeance, and she could see his eyebrows going up to his hairline as she spoke. "Honestly I didn't even want to go but my friend Maddie insisted and I usually never get invited because I'm too young to drink so … hum yeah." She sighed. "But my mum helped me make that dress from scratch and there's no way I was going to let them ruin it so I turned around and tried to leave-"

"And you abandoned your friend?" He cut her off and she huffed.

"A blood stained dress was already Maddie's idea for a costume and she found the idea of being thrown into a pool of fake blood absolutely hilarious! It's a complete lack of creativity if you ask me! Anyway, I tried to leave but these idiots started chasing me through the park and I know they were just pretending to be zombies but I-I kind of panicked anyway and that's-"

"… when you saw the house?" he finished for her, his tone much softer than before.

"Yeah," she confirmed with a small smile.

"But are you sure they're not really zombies? Been living with these guys for two months and for most of them, I'm pretty sure I couldn't tell the difference if they got turned."

Laughter bubbled up inside her, at his reflexion but also at the very serious way he said it, and she didn't try to contain it. After a few seconds, he joined her and suddenly this whole situation, as strange as it still was, didn't feel so scary anymore. Whoever he was, his grumpiness was really quite amusing when it wasn't directed at her.

"I'm Jemma Simmons by the way!" she said, her voice still full of mirth as she extended her hand for him to shake. He took it without too much hesitation this time and his hand was delightfully warm, making her want to hold it just a second longer.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Fitz"

"Just Fitz?" she asked.

"Leo Fitz, but please just call me Fitz"

"Alright" She nodded before regretfully letting go of his hand. "So hum … I don't mean to intrude, well no more than I already did, but what's happening in here? Are you trying to get in the mood for Halloween or …" She trailed off and he chuckled.

"Ah no I hum-" he started as he finally walked into the room and went to sit on his desk chair, turning it around to face her. "Oh you can sit if you like!" he said, gesturing towards the bed and she was pretty sure he grinned as he watched her sit on the bed while trying to keep her dignity, which wasn't easy with her legs dangling in the air. "So hum no I really, REALLY didn't feel like partying with the other idiots who live here so I cut the power and said it was because of the storm. And since they don't even know where the fuse box is, I pretended to look at it and told them I couldn't fix it tonight."

"Sneaky!" she said with a grin.

"Waited till they all left to find another party and I went back to restore the power," he said, before turning around and flicking the lights on, flashing her a very proud smile, the effect of which was a bit wasted by how he was squinting to adjust to the light.

He must really be surrounded by idiots, she thought, if he thinks I should be impressed he turned the power and lights back on. As she blinked several times to adjust to the light as well, she took a quick look around. On top of what she'd already seen, there was also a big wooden desk with his laptop on and the rest was entirely covered with scraps of metal, pieces of electronics and computer parts. There was also a poster of space over it, a box that look to be filled with drawings of some sort and a whole lot of emptiness. A part of the room was still mostly in the dark but still, it was like he didn't know what to do with so much space, like he truly didn't belong here. Which sounded to be the case to some extent, considering how he was talking about his housemates.

And then she looked back at him and thought that he definitely didn't look like the type to live in a frat house. At least from what she knew about fraternities from American teenage movies. He really was young, about her age so probably a few years ahead of everyone, he was quite lean and didn't look the sporty type with his adorable curls and plaid shirt and … oh! He had the prettiest blue eyes she'd ever seen, looking at her expectantly since she hadn't said a thing in over a minute. So she just said the first thing that popped into her head.

"And aren't you scared one of them might see the light in your room at some point?" she asked and his smile fell.

"Ah … that's a good point I guess," he said dejectedly.

"But that was a smart plan!" she added quickly, hoping it would bring his smile back. He had a very pretty smile as well. "Smarter than trying to outrun the football team!" she finished, air quoting the word football and he chuckled.

"Ah yeah I guess …" he replied as he extended his hand and turned the light back off. "Well at least I can still use my laptop." he said, turning his back to her to turn it on.

Jemma thought it was her cue to leave. Her little run in the park had brought her closer to her dorm and, hopefully, the idiots weren't looking for her anymore. With a little luck, she'd get back to her room without another incident, go to bed and maybe even sleep in instead of going for her morning run. Standing up, she grimaced as she slipped her still very wet shoes on.

"Well I should-" she started but Fitz cut her off as he turned back around to look at her.

"I like your costume!" he blurted out and she scrunched up her nose in disbelief. She thought it was beautiful of course but she didn't get quite as many compliments about it as when she wore it the previous year.

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's hum-it's pretty! I mean …" He started, sounding a little embarrassed. "It looks like the real thing, very detailed and all. I've seen at least four Snow Whites today, none of them looked like you. These days, it's either a sexy version of just anything or just throwing fake blood and guts on old clothes and go as a zombie. It's like you said, why is no one willing to commit anymore?"

He said it all very seriously, a deep frown on his otherwise very smooth face, which made the fact that he just rambled like a grumpy old man about "kids these days" even funnier.

"So what's your costume then?" she asked as she looked him up and down with his jeans, plaid shirt and sneakers and he huffed, making a show of rolling his eyes all the way to the back of his head.

"I'm a homicidal maniac. They look just like everyone else." he replied in a cold tone and quite convincing American accent and she laughed in delight. She didn't know much about that boy but she liked his spirit already.

"Nice!" she commented. "I had thought of going as Morticia Addams actually but without Gomez, it's just too sad so I just used last year's costumes with a few tweaks."

And she was glad she did, it would have been a bloody waste of time to make a new costume, not to mention running in Morticia's skintight dress would have been even more of a nightmare.

"Ah, thank you!" he cried out enthusiastically. "I've been saying this to people all day and they've been looking at me with seriously worried looks, those uncultured swines!"

"I know! People are really strange, aren't they?" she replied, biting her lip not to laugh, and he nodded.

They shared another smile and as the silence started stretching again, once more she wondered if it was her cue to leave. Did he keep talking because he was too nice to ask her to leave or did he sincerely not mind her staying a bit longer? But it was cold and still raining outside and as she realized he's already been nice enough to not throw her out of his room immediately and that she should probably not disturb his plans for the evening any longer, she didn't really WANT to leave. There was something about him that just felt right and made her want to know more. He seemed to be just as sweet as he was grumpy and someone who could get so passionate about something as trivial as Halloween costumes had to be interesting.

"So hum … you didn't want to celebrate Halloween?" she asked, curious about why someone who felt so strongly about costumes wouldn't even go to a party. Unless he knew what happened to first years in these parties and she'd just been too naive …

"Well I certainly didn't feel like partying with these idiots but I did celebrate! In my own way at least. Look." He said, pointing behind her above the bed, towards that painting of a man with a mustache that she could only guess was an illustrious former member of this fraternity and who looked quite a lot like …

"Oh!" She breathed out, turning back to see him grinning in confirmation. Grabbing a candle from the bedside table and, forgetting her manners, Jemma climbed a little clumsily and very un-princess-like onto the bed.

And here it was, proudly displayed over his bed like a respected ancestor, a portrait of Gomez Addams in a heavy golden frame.

"Fitz!" Jemma cried out enthusiastically. "Where did you even find something like that?"

"Made it of course! Found a big enough picture, added a little photoshop effect, had it printed on a canvas and bought a cheap frame that I painted and aged and voilà!" he finished triumphantly.

"Well, that's some level of commitment!" She declared as she sat back more elegantly on the bed and put the candle back where she found it before she ended up setting his bed on fire.

"Oh, you haven't seen half of it ..." He said with a hint of mystery in his voice. "Come on ..."

Standing up, he quickly grabbed her hand to pull her up and she had no choice but to follow him through the door. Taking his phone out of his pocket, he used the torch to bring a little more light into the hallway.

"I put the Gomez painting on the wall a month ago and no one noticed so I thought, if I have to walk past illustrious and exclusively male asshole faces everyday, I might as well make it fun ..."

Just left to his door was a picture of Fester in a very elegant suit, another one was clearly grandma Addams as an ugly old man and there was even cousin It in a darkened alcove. He pulled her in his wake as he proceeded to show her everything, explaining how he did it all with a childlike enthusiasm that was incredibly contagious. And it was only when he was done telling her how his next door neighbor didn't even notice that his grandfather had been replaced by an Addams family member that he seemed to realize that he was still holding her hand.

"Oh! Sorry ..." he mumbled as he let it go and took a step back like it just burned him. She felt a little disappointment. Because she had in fact been enjoying the warm feeling of his hand quite a lot and, if they knew each other better, she would have in fact been tempted to ask him to take both her hands in his. For warmth. Mostly. And maybe a tiny bit to give her chance to study his intriguingly long and elegant finger more closely. But oh well … she decided to just dismiss it as nothing important with a smile and a shake of her head. She was even more impressed by his commitment to a really good prank.

"Fitz, this is all amazing!" she finally said as she followed him back to the relative safety of his room. "I wish those seniors had your imagination when it comes to preparing pranks for the freshmen …"

"Ah, I don't know Jemma … my imagination combined with their potential for evil, that might be terrifying …"

"Ah, I don't know if they're really evil … I'd say it's more a combination of bored and stupid!"

"Ouch!" Fitz let out with a wide grin.

"Fitz, can I ask you a question? 'Cause there's something I really need to know!" She asked in a more serious tone, and in the darkness of the room he probably couldn't see the mirth in her eyes so he straightened up in his chair before answering.

"Hum … sure. Ask away."

"Right. So don't take this the wrong way because I mean it as the purest form of compliment possible but … you look nothing like a frat boy to me!" she declared and he burst out laughing.

"Thank you!" he simply replied as he fell back against the back of his chair.

"No, but seriously. How did you end up here?"

"Ah, hum … My father was a member, which really isn't surprising considering-" She could tell there was a story there but they were definitely not close enough for her to ask him that. "Anyway, that, along with my age and grades I guess, it got me a room here. And as much as I hate most of the guys living here, it has its advantages, bigger private room, a bathroom I don't have to share with anyone else, a well equipped kitchen and the best Wi-Fi on campus!"

"Okay now I'm jealous! I usually have to take my laptop to the super cold and tiny common room if I want to download or watch a video without it lagging for hours!"

"Well, you're welcome to break into my room to use the wifi and my comfy armchair anytime!" Fitz grinned.

"Hey! I didn't technically break into your room, the door was open and again, I'm very, very sorry and it was really nice of you not to throw me out and if there's anything I can do to-"

"It's alright Jemma! I was kidding and I'm glad I helped a fellow countrywoman escape a bunch of idiots and since I was only supposed to work on those bloody drawings all night, it definitely made my Halloween more interesting."

"Oh alright then ..." Jemma replied, liking the nice little smile that came with his last statement. "But my offer still stands though. If you need help with anything or, I don't know, to plan a prank on an even bigger scale or-"

"Ah, I'll keep that in mind!"

"Well I'm going to leave now, you obviously have work to do and I don't want to bother you any longer" Jemma said as she reluctantly stood up from the bed once more. Her shoes were still just as wet and even though it should have been weird being in the dark with a complete stranger, it was in fact rather nice and cosy and the company was delightful. Fitz was in the same time surprising with his quirks and slight awkwardness and familiar with his lovely Scottish lilt and, again, she didn't really want to leave.

"No!" he replied, with a conviction that surprised her. "I mean you can leave if you want of course …" he corrected himself. "But you don't have to, it's still raining and you can't have been here for more than an hour and they might still be looking for you so hum-I don't mind you staying, in fact I-I hum … it'd be nice, if you want to …"

"Oh." So he wasn't being extra polite after all. He really was enjoying spending time with her as well. Jemma couldn't help smiling at how he was wringing his hands in his lap and looking everywhere but at her but still smiling hopefully as he waited for her to speak. He really was a breath of fresh air, sweet and funny and a hundred percent himself, completely sincere.

"Oh, of course." She smiled. "It's not like I find the prospect of running another 500 meters while trying to escape zombies to get to my tiny room to have microwaved tea particularly appealing," she finished and he chuckled.

"Right. So can I interest you into a cup of proper tea then?" Fitz asked, nodding towards the beautifully shining electric kettle plugged into the wall in the little table in the corner of the room and surrounded with several mismatched mugs and a few boxes that she could only guess were filled with tea.

She had definitely chosen the right room to break into!

-0-0-0-

"Now I'm really jealous!" Jemma declared as she sipped a perfectly steeped cup of tea. "I mean, the huge room and private bathroom was one thing but a real electric kettle, that's proper luxury!"

"Can't you get your own kettle in your room?" Fitz asked, looking amused at her Britishness.

"It's forbidden." She sighed. "Apparently someone started a fire with one a few years ago and now we're all condemned to a life of microwaved tea."

"Can't you sneak one into your room? I could help if you-"

"No!" She cut him off. "I don't want to be expelled because of a kettle!" she cried out, straightening up in the nice comfy chair he took from the hallway for her earlier, which apparently made him grin for some reason. Getting expelled wasn't something you should take so lightly.

"Oh come on it's not jail, they're not going to do a room sweep to look for illegal kettles!"

She glared at him and his grin disappeared almost completely as he said,

"Alright, no sneaking kettle into your room then. But you're welcome to use mine anytime, just … you know, wait till I'm in my room to do so instead of breaking in!"

"Again. Technically I didn't break in, the door was open and I did try to find someone and called out for-"

"I'm kidding Jemma!" he cut her off. She glared at him but it was hard to resist such an adorably sheepish smile. "I swear! And honestly even if you did, I'd be fine with it. The last time I found someone sleeping on my bed, it was that huge oaf living next door who was too drunk and mistook my room for his. Didn't even wake when I pushed him off the bed and I had to wash everything 'cause, believe me when I say it, he smelt nothing like you."

"Oh," she said, her eyebrows raising in surprise. "And what do I smell like?"

"Oh hum … I don't know, something like …" Moving forward, he stopped just a few inches short of having his nose in the crook of her neck. "Flowers? Maybe rose or lavender? I don't know much about flowers but definitely nice, nicer than-"

He finally noticed how close he was and how her eyebrows were raised up to her hairline and moved backwards, his eyes widening comically.

"Hum sorry …" he mumbled as he looked down at his lap. That was definitely a weird thing to do but his awkwardness was kind of charming and that gave her an opportunity to notice an equally lovely smell coming from him. Coconut. Yeah, definitely coconut. And coming from his hair it seemed, which meant his curls were probably as soft and fluffy as they looked. She wondered if she could get away with threading her fingers through his curls after what he'd done.

He was looking back up at her now with a nervous expression.

So probably not then. Too bad.

"That's alright Fitz. And it's actually rose, thanks for noticing," she finally replied, smiling coquettishly.

"Oh, you're hum-welcome. I guess …"

Poor thing looked terribly embarrassed so she decided to have mercy on him. After all, it wasn't every day she met someone even more awkward than she was.

"So you talked about drawing earlier. Are you an art major?"

His face lit up at the question, his previous embarrassment apparently forgotten as he quite literally shot up from his chair and went foraging in the box she'd noticed earlier.

"Oh no! See? Those are engineering drawings!"

That boy was getting more interesting with every passing minute.

-0-0-0-

"Fitz, these are fantastic!" Jemma declared enthusiastically as she put the candle safely away from the multiple sheets of paper she had been examining.

"You think so?" he asked with a smile that was a mix of pride and shyness.

"Of course!" She nudged his arm fondly and his expression turned definitely prouder. "And did you really do all this since the start of year? That's an impressive amount of work even if you had no other class to work for."

"Ah, hum … actually I started this before, had a little bit of help from my physics teacher back home. He's a bit of a high tech enthusiast but I had to wait until I was here and had access to a proper lab to start building it."

He was looking at the drawing and sketches like it was his own child and she understood the feeling all too well. Not that her own field science really allowed her to create anything yet, but she felt that same pride whenever she successfully finished an experiment.

"Oh, so you already built one?" She asked eagerly. These drones looked fantastic on paper and on screen but she'd love to see one in action. And to think Fitz was only a freshman like her. No wonder that whatever this fraternity was, they wanted him. Although she honestly couldn't quite imagine him one day having a mustache and posing for one of those very portraits in the hallway. Unless he dressed like Gomez Addams maybe. Jemma couldn't help smiling at the thought.

"It's not completely done, but yeah, the one gathering visual datas should be ready for his first tests really soon. Hopefully it'll be impressive enough for Professor Stone to grant me access to more advanced labs."

"Well, I'd love to see it in action. And to think of all the other possible applications, I mean seven drones seem like plenty of datas of course but just from the top of my head, I could just ... what?" She cut herself off when she noticed his expression of surprise.

"Nothing, just ... I didn't think you could think of hum ... or even be interested in those at all really ..."

"Oh what now? Because I'm a girl I can't be interested in science or technology?"

He'd been so lovely and smart until now, she couldn't believe he was the kind of boy who thought like that, that was just-

"What? No!" he cried out, almost horrified. "No I would never ... it's just with the dress and the language and the whole "staying in character" thing, I thought you sounded more like a drama student or maybe even an english or history major.

"Oh."

She felt really stupid for her outburst now.

"I shouldn't have assumed, I'm sorry if I offended you ..."

And now he looked all sheepish and she felt downright guilty for assuming he was that kind of boy. 

"No don't be, that makes complete sense Fitz! I'm sorry I'm just used to people assuming plenty of things because I'm young and a girl and-"

"No really don't apologize Jemma. I know what you mean, well not about being a girl obviously but hum ... yeah ..."

"Alright then," she said, moving forward to squeeze his arm in reassurance. "Let's just forget either of us assumed anything, yeah?"

"Ah yeah of course." He chuckled. "So what's your-"

"Biochem," she said before he could finish his sentence.

"Oh, wow, so now I'm even more interested in what you might have in mind for my babies!"

"Babies?" She grinned. "Is that what you call them?"

"Ah no ... I still need a name. I'm open to suggestions!"

"Hum ... let me think ... there's seven of them and they each have a different function ... a personality you might say ...oh-"

But before she could tell him her brilliant idea, her belly, or most likely the monsters living in it from the awfully loud noise it let out, decided to let everyone know it needed feeding.

Fitz, not being a complete gentleman after all, didn't even feign to not notice it and burst out laughing. He tried to muffle it when he saw her wide horrified eyes though.

"Sorry ... hum did you have dinner tonight?"

"Ah, no, there was supposed to be food at the party ..." She replied, glad that he couldn't see her blush in the relative darkness or that would just make her blush even more.

"Do you want something, I can-"

"Ah, no, don't worry I'll eat something later, I don't want to bother you any more than I already have."

"Jemma!" He sighed as he rolled his eyes. "I already told you you're not bothering me. I'm a bit peckish myself and I'm not going to eat in front of you if you don't. Do you want me to starve, Jemma?"

It was her time to roll her eyes but not without a small smile tugging at her lips. She really liked how easy it was to be around him and talk and tease each other like they knew each other for much longer than they did.

"Alright then. But I'll owe you a dinner at the very least. Or lunch or hum ... any kind of meal ..." she finished lamely.

Crap. That sounded like she would be forcing herself to spend time with him when he was very clearly the most interesting person she met since she came to live in the US. He didn't seem to think like her though because he just gave her a big smile when he said,

"Sure. I'll hold you to that!" And then went about foraging in yet another big box apparently hidden under his bed for some reason.

Wait. Maybe it was just because it was so dark, and it wasn't like she knew him very well after all, but that smile looked almost flirty. Okay. So she supposed that from a different angle it could have sounded like she was pushing a date on him. Except he didn't really seem to mind. And she kind of liked that he didn't mind.

Ugh. It was complicated enough reading people in an ordinary situation but in the dark with someone she barely knew, it was just ridiculous.

"Oh, I have something perfect!" he said, thankfully interrupting her train of thought before she felt obligated to say something to make what she meant clearer and ended up being awkward. "But I'm not sure you're going to like it. It's kind of illegal, I wouldn't want you to risk deportation because of it ..."

"What? What are you tal- Ugh Fitz!" she cried out when she saw the kinder surprise egg he was holding in his hand with a mischievous grin.

She tried to glare at him but he was offering delicious chocolate so ...

"Just give me the egg Fitz!" she told him with a bit of a childish impatience in her voice as she stood up and came back to sit on the bed instead. She didn't waste a second and tore the wrapping apart before opening the egg and letting the smaller orange plastic egg fall onto the bed to eat the chocolate. "So good!" she mumbled as she practically devoured the two pieces of chocolate. Objectively speaking, she knew it was cheap chocolate with more sugar than anything else but still, so good. Especially with how famished she was.

Fitz was looking at her with a raised eyebrow as he was apparently trying to open his own orange plastic egg while eating the chocolate.

"What?" she asked, gulping down the last of it.

"Nothing, it just ... wasn't very princess-like." He grinned and she felt a little embarrassed at the way she took it from him and ate it like she hadn’t eaten in days.

"Oh ... sorry. And hum thank you. That's really sweet of you."

"You're very welcome! But something tells me it wasn't quite enough."

"Oh, no, that's alright. I'll eat something once I'm back in my dorm."

"Don't be ridiculous. My mom sends me so many care package even I can't eat it all. Honestly, it's like she thinks we still need to forage for food!"

Jemma chuckled knowingly. She had to insist her mom stop sending her so much tea, she couldn't drink so much without risking damage to her heart because of all the caffeine.

"Alright, but I'll definitely owe you then!"

"That's the plan ..." he replied almost too low for her to hear and biting his lip like he was trying to stop himself from smiling.

So did he actually-

"Oh, that one's good too!" He declared enthusiastically as he plucked a packet from the huge box he just put on the bed.

"Oh Fitz!" she said, shaking her head in amusement. "I can see it!"

"Well, yeah, that was the whole point of showing it to you."

His brows were furrowed in confusion and she didn't know if she should find it cute or slightly alarming that he didn't see what the problem was.

"No, I mean that I can see it even with the candles all the way over there because it actually glows in in the dark!"

"Yeah, that's awesome!" He grinned.

"Fitz!" she admonished gently. "I don't think you're supposed to eat something that glows in the dark!"

"Oh …"

His wide grin disappeared as he put the packet of sweets back in the box with a last longing look at it.

Definitely cute then.

"Well, I'll go find something else in the kitchen then. I could probably use some vitamins and … stuff," he mumbled as he got up and grabbed the cardigan on the back of his chair.

"Ah, but you don't HAVE to do it, I was just saying that to-"

"No, no you're right, I'll make us some sandwiches it's just … not very festive, that's all."

"Cause we're having a party now?" She raised an amused eyebrow at him.

"Well you're a guest!" He shrugged. "You're supposed to serve guests fancy … well, fancier food."

"Oh, I'm a guest now? What happened to me being a trespasser?"

"I didn't say trespasser and hum … if I had been there when you knocked ... I would have definitely let you in so, yeah … guest."

He was looking down at his feet like he'd just said something embarrassing when it was really quite sweet of him.

"Oh that's … that's nice Fitz and some sandwiches would be just lovely really," she answered, tentatively squeezing his arm to make him look up at her. Even with the faint light of the candles, his eyes were quite a stunning deep blue and she couldn't help wondering how much more amazing they would look in light of day.

"Right," he smiled. "I'll just be a few minutes, you should wait here. With the power supposedly out, it'll be freezing down in the kitchen."

"Alright," she said. "And thanks again. For everything."

He didn't say anything, just let his arm slide until the hand she didn't realize she still had on his arm was instead on his hand and he squeezed it back for just a second before smiling softly, nodding and walking away. The sensation sent a pleasant zing up her arm. Maybe because his hand was still impossibly warm or maybe because his grip was surprisingly strong or could it be that the smile that came with it had an inexplicable way of warming her up from the inside better than any fireplace would?

Well, in any case, that boy really was fascinating in more ways than one and since she had to wait for him, she couldn't resist getting a look at those drawings once more. She knew he said it would only be a few minutes but she was really impatient to tell him all the ideas that popped into her brain as he first explained the concept of his drones, not to mention the brilliant idea she had for names for them.

And maybe it was because she was so enthusiastic about the whole thing that she didn't notice the cord from his laptop's battery charger on the ground. And probably because her sense of balance didn't work quite as well in the relative darkness and surely because her head was already spinning a bit from not having eaten all day anyway, when her left foot got all tangled in it, pulling her backwards and with nothing close enough to hold on to, she fell flat on her back.

-0-0-0-

Next thing she knew, Jemma was opening her eyes to find that Fitz's face was very very (very!) close to hers and looking very much like he was about to kiss her, although the idea didn't seem to please him as much it should. (or at least as much as she'd like him to)

"Fitz!" she squeaked as she shot up and proceeded to bump her forehead against his pretty hard, which only made her fall back on the ground and Fitz fall back on his arse.

"Owww," she whined at the same time he cried out "Oh thank god!" with a sigh of relief.

"Fitz?" she asked from where she was still lying on her back on the ground. With how much the room was spinning, it felt like the safest option. "What the- what's happening?"

"I don't know!" he replied, his voice taking the same high pitched tone as earlier. "I came back with the sandwiches and you were on the ground with your eyes closed and all and I panicked!"

"And so you decided to kiss me?" She asked, tentatively rising herself up on her forearms to try and look at him. "I know I said I liked staying in character and all but I wouldn't take it this far!"

"What? NO! No no no no no no … I wouldn't I-I was just trying to give you mouth to mouth"

"But I didn't stop breathing, did I?"

His eyes were open wide and his mouth was slightly open and she could see how his jaw was moving as he tried to form words but no sound was coming out of him.

"Hu … no," he finally let out. "I don't know, probably not."

"You didn't check?"

"I don't know-I-I … it's just I didn't know what to do and that's what people do in movies and I-I I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do anything hu … inappropriate or-or hu …"

Oh no. There was something really wrong with her tonight. First, she breaks into someone's room, falls asleep on his bed and when he's sweet enough to actually go and get food for her, she scares him to death by tripping on a cord and fainting. And then makes him feel guilty for trying (although rather clumsily) to help her! Poor Fitz!

He'd moved as far away from her as possible and was frantically scratching the back of his neck in what she could only guess was a nervous gesture as he kept trying to explain himself.

"Fitz stop! I'm the one who should be sorry really! I just tripped over some cord and fell and it must have knocked the wind out of me. And since I haven't eaten much today, that must have knocked me unconscious for a few seconds."

"Oh. Of course. But I hum … Do you want me to call a doctor or something?" he asked tentatively. He was now leaning against the side of his bed, his hair a little messy from having run his hand in it and his face displaying a very sheepish expression. He really was rather adorable and it brought a smile to her face. She tried sitting up properly and once she was confident she wouldn't topple backwards again, she reached for his leg to give it a gentle squeeze.

"Oh, no, it's nothing really, I just need to eat something and rest a bit. See? My head's not spinning anymore. How's YOUR head?" she asked, remembering that he was injured as well when they bumped heads.

"I'll live," he replied, a small smile returning to his face.

"Good then! And thank you for being so understanding and trying to help me again. And sorry for scaring you and, hu, everything."

"That's alright," he replied almost automatically. "Definitely made my evening more interesting than it would have been … Oh!" he suddenly exclaimed enthusiastically as he turned around to grab something on the bed. "Look what I found for you!" he said, handing her what looked to be a red apple, the skin shining slightly in the light of the candles.

She laughed as she took it from him with a fake suspicious look in her eyes.

"Certified poison free!" he grinned.

"Good. I think it's nice for the princess to have a little bit of a talk with her rescuer before she runs away with him on a white horse."

"Right …" he said with a bit of a shy smile. "I don't have a horse to run away on anyway but I do have the Uber app if you ever want someone to run away with!"

She laughed as she took a bite of her apple. It was just the perfect mix of sweet and just a little acidity that made the taste absolutely delightful after such a long day.

"I'll hold you to that!"

-0-0-0-

Jemma woke up as the first faint light of November hit her face. In the light of day, the room felt less gothic and mysterious and more like that of a teenager with clothes and some of his drawings scattered on the floor. But definitely one with good taste if the books on his shelves, which she could now see the titles of, were anything to go by.

After she embarrassingly fainted like the frail heroin of a nineteenth century novel with a too tight corset, they ate Fitz's delicious sandwich as they talked a little bit more about his drones and she was able to tell him her ideas for a name for them, which he found absolutely genius. She thought it was a little bit exaggerated but she appreciated his enthusiasm and appreciated even more the eagerness with which he listened to her as she proceeded to tell him all the ideas that popped into her brain about his drones. It was a rare thing to see such a young brilliant mind but it might even be a rarer thing to see one that was so willing to listen to someone else's ideas. But soon enough, she started yawning uncontrollably and Fitz insisted that she needed to rest and that it was safer to stay here for now because it was still early and he'd feel terribly guilty if she was snatched away by those idiot older students on her way to her dorm. And since she was already sitting cross legged on that giant bed of his and it was so comfy, it had been impossible to resist.

Apparently she must have been even more exhausted than she thought because the last thing she remembered was Fitz giving her a soft smile as he turned around and hunched over his desk to try and work by the candlelight. And now, there was no one sitting at the desk, the fluffy blanket had been laid on top of her and … oh, there was a gentle snore coming from somewhere in the room.

Turning around she realized it was Fitz. He'd laid down on the bed as far away from her as possible and still in most of his clothes. The poor thing was curled up in a ball like a cat with another blanket on top of him. It was all incredibly thoughtful but she felt really guilty from preventing him to enjoy his own bed because she'd apparently taken on the habit of claiming it for herself like a house cat.

Ah well. The small clock on the bed side table indicated that it was just after six o'clock and, although it was tempting to stay for a few more hours, it felt like the perfect time to leave. The idiots would all be passed out drunk and it was too early for anyone in her dorm or this house to be awake yet. Because with what little she knew about Fitz's roommates, it didn't feel like a good idea that any of them saw her leave his room in the morning.

She hesitated for a moment, wondering if she should just leave a note and let him sleep, but it felt wrong and they hadn't had the time to talk again about having lunch or dinner or whatever and didn't even exchange contact informations. So she decided to, at least, try and wake him up to tell him once more what a surprisingly nice evening she had with him and thank him for everything and maybe see if he was in fact still interested in seeing her again.

"Fitz?" she asked in a soft voice as she gently rubbed his shoulder.

Nothing.

"Fitz?" she asked a little louder.

"Mmmmhhwha,'" came from his sleeping form and she took it as a sign that he was somehow hearing her.

"Fitz, I'm gonna go now. Thanks again for everything," she said, squeezing his arm to make sure he wouldn't fall back asleep in the middle of her sentence.

"'s alrigh," he mumbled as he proceeded to turn around, which looked a lot more complicated than it should have, and curled up facing her this time with his hands holding on tightly to her arm. She had to bite her lip not to coo at how cute it was but she'd be lucky if he remembered even half of what she had to say so she decided to make it simple.

"I'm going to leave a note on your desk with my phone number and you can call me or text me if you want to meet up someday. Okay?"

He made a small noise that vaguely sounded like "yeah" and she supposed it would have to be enough for now.

"Alright Fitz, good night then and I hope I'll see you soon," she said and since he just looked too adorable, she couldn't resist bending forward and pressing a kiss to his lightly stubbled cheek before extracting her arm from his grip and standing up.

She pulled the blanket back up on him and added her own to make sure he wouldn't be cold. Then she walked to his desk and scribbled a small note that she left on his desk before quietly leaving the room. The house was thankfully still as quiet as it was the previous night but she still walked as quickly as she could to the door and then back to her dorm. It was shaping up to be a nice sunny day, but winter was definitely on the way and the warmth of Fitz's bed and blanket wouldn't follow her all the way across campus.

-0-0-0-

"Dwarfs, that's a good name for them!"

"Hey, give me that you big oaf or I swear I'll-"

"Are you one of them? You could be one of them, you're the right size for it"

"Oh just go fu-"

"Like the one who always mumbles, what's his name? Moody?"

"That's grumpy and just give me the bloody box back before you break it with your giant ogre hands!"

"Alright alright it's just a bit of fun … Bet you have the hairy feet to go with it too!"

"Oh my god! That's hobbits, you idiots! Not dwarves, hobbits! Hobbits have hairy feet and I don't. Now just go bother someone else!"

Jemma's head had shot up when she recognized the familiar voice and strong Scottish lilt. She'd been sitting in the quad, enjoying a little bit of sunlight with a good book before she had to go back to class when Fitz and the other huge boys had entered her field of vision and completely obscured it by standing right between her and the sun. She couldn't help grinning at Fitz's admittedly grumpy attitude towards what she guessed were his housemates but now she fully understood why he didn't like them a lot.

He'd managed to get his box back and, in a hurry to get as far away from the other boys as possible, he, understandably, didn't notice Jemma as he walked past her. He didn't go far though. He chose a quiet corner of the quad to sit down and, after a few seconds, he just let himself fall flat on his back with a heavy sigh she could hear even with the thirty meters separating them. She hadn't heard from him since her strange little Halloween adventure and even though it had only been three days and he was probably as busy as she was, she'd already started to wonder if he really was interested in seeing her again or if he'd just been too polite to reject her.

Well, that wasn't necessarily the best time but she didn't get his contact info and short of going back to his house and knocking on his door (and definitely come across as clingy), that was probably her best opportunity to talk to him. She put her book back in her bag and walked up to him. A smile tugged at her lips when she looked down at him. He probably didn't realize it when he laid down but his face ended up in a patch of small daisies and he looked like a proper Disney princess with his eyes closed to avoid the sun hitting his face directly.

"I thought zombies couldn't walk in daylight!" she said, hoping he'd remember their conversation from a few days ago.

He jumped a little at the sound of her voice but smiled immediately when he recognized her and she reciprocated it immediately.

"Nah, that's vampires!" He replied.

"Oh right."

He had his arm over his eyes to shield himself from the sun as he looked up but that didn't stop her from noticing how stunning they were in the light of day. A deep sapphire blue with specks of grey and lighter blue. And she didn't want him to damage them so she sat down next to him so that he wouldn't have to look towards the sun to talk to her.

"It's good to see you," he said a little shyly. "I was so out of it the other morning when you left that I started thinking it was all a dream!"

"Ah!" She chuckled, blushing a bit. Was that a compliment? That sounded like a compliment. "Didn't you find my note?"

"Just this morning …" he replied with a sheepish tone. "You might have noticed that my room's a bit of a mess …"

"Oh. Right. But it's almost four PM now, what took you so long to call me?" she asked, acting bolder than she felt.

"Ah hum … I just-I didn't want you to feel obligated to do anything, honestly I was happy to help and hu-"

"Oh. Well this is embarrassing …" She cut him off and he stopped short, looking at her with confusion in those big blue eyes of his. "You see," she started, bending forward slightly so she could look into his eyes more closely. "The thing is, I had a lovely time and the whole owing you a dinner or lunch or whatever was kind of an excuse … thought you'd have gotten the hint by now …"

"Oh." Realization finally seemed to settle on his face and she thought she could see the beginning of a smile tugging at his lips. "No, subtle doesn’t really work on me. I’m not going to assume anything unless you say in very clear and direct words. Sorry ..." He said and she couldn't help laughing at how anti-climatic that was.

He lifted himself up on his forearms and turned to look at her from a less weird angle. His eyes still showed a little hesitation.

"So just to be sure, you mean like a-"

"Date? Yes. Yes that's what I meant," she replied and his smile turned bigger. Which definitely seemed like a good sign.

"But you're a princess and I'm just a commoner," he declared faux-dramatically and she bit her lip not to burst out laughing once more.

"Isn't that how all the best stories start? And anyway it's way past midnight, my carriage has turned back into a pumpkin," she nodded towards the few Halloween decorations left next to the fountain in the middle of the quad.

"So we're mixing fairy tales now?"

"Well, I don't think there was supposed to be zombies in the story to begin with so ..."

"Fair point!" He grinned. "So, hum, Jemma? Would you mind me using that phone number of yours to call you and ask you out on a date? Or you know … since you're here I could ask you out on a date right now and we could decide of a time and place?"

She raised an amused an eyebrow at the unnecessary complication of his sentence but then she caught a glimpse of the time on her watch.

"Actually you're going to have to use that number because I have to be in class in ten minutes," she said as she started to get up.

"Wait!" he said, gently grabbing her hand before she could. "Tonight at seven?"

Eager. She liked that.

"Alright then. Text me the details."

"Great!" he let out enthusiastically as he fell back down, his back on the grass and his head in the flowers.

And maybe it was the contented expression on his face or the setting that was just too pretty with the soft light of the afternoon, but it was just too tempting. Bending forward and with one hand resting lightly on his chest, she pressed a kiss to his mouth. It was light and delicate, almost as chaste as a Disney kiss but his lips were soft and had a faint taste of tea and it was all very promising.

He looked a little dazed when she moved away and she couldn't help grinning.

"I had to make sure you were still breathing." she said and he chuckled as he blushed prettily. "And that was just too tempting," she said, meaning that he was just too cute with the flowers and everything but at the exact same moment noticing that the idiots from earlier had witnessed the whole scene and now had eyes as big as saucers.

Fitz followed her gaze and his face fell a bit.

"Oh. Was that just for them?" he asked and she shook her head in fond exasperation.

"Of course it wasn't. That was just a bonus," she said, licking her lip not completely unconsciously. "A very nice bonus," she added.

"Hum …" he let out with a pleased little sigh. "Then I suppose …"

Sitting up, he brought his hand to her cheek with a tenderness that made her heart do a funny little flip in her chest, and slowly moved closer until their lips were pressed together again. She let out a tiny little whimper as his mouth moved more firmly against hers and then she let herself get lost into the kiss. Their lips parted as they moved against each other, their eagerness growing as his hand slid from her cheek to her hair and her heart started beating faster and louder.

Her phone beeped loudly, announcing that the beginning of her next class was imminent, making them jump apart. When she opened her eyes, he had the same dazed and a little hungry look she knew she must have as well. She grinned once more and she wasn't sure she'd be able to stop all day if she didn't walk away from him very soon. He definitely wasn't a Disney prince and she couldn't have been happier about it.

"I really have to go!" she breathed out.

"Oh right. Sorry!" he said, reluctantly pulling his lovely delicate fingers from her hair.

"Don't be. I'm not!" she replied matter of factly.

"Yeah no. I'm not either." He grinned before falling back onto the grass with his hands behind his head.

Damn it. It really wasn't fair that she had to be in class right now. Especially such a terribly boring useless history of chemistry class she could have taught herself. And especially when Fitz was here and looking like he had nothing better to do than to lie in the grass when she had so many better ideas.

Hum.

"Fitz?"

"Yes?"

"Does that offer of running away with me still stand?"

"Of course!" he replied, straightening up once more, a wide smile threatening to split his face in two. "What would you want to run away from? An evil stepmother? Evil stepsisters? A dragon?"

"Worse! Horrible mind numbing boredom."

"Oh. Well. Is a fantastic coffee shop where they serve delicious scones and cappuccino a far enough place to run away to?" he asked and her wide smile seemed enough of an answer for him because he was up and grabbing her hand before she could say anything. Pecking her lips once more for good measure, he pulled her towards the way out of campus.

And so together, hand in hand, they walked away towards the setting sun and a brilliant future filled with scones, tea, more kisses, fewer boring history classes and no zombies whatsoever.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are always welcome and you can also find me on tumblr @agentofship for more stories and AoS art :)


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